TE23 Double Feature

Marzahn, Mon Amour

Katja Oskamp

me his hand and hid behind his wife. She and her daughter tried to coax him inside. When that didn’t help, they gave him a shove over the threshold with their combined strength, while he acted the lame horse. Herr Hübner looked round the reception area in fear and then at me with his strangely watery eyes. I invited the family to take a seat while I prepared the footbath. When I returned, I explained that the treatment would last about an hour; the ladies were welcome to stay or they could go off and do some shopping. ‘We’ll stay,’ said the mother; the daughter nodded. I asked Herr Hübner to follow me into the chiropody room. I was followed not only by him, but also by the women, in single file. I said I’d rather his entourage waited in the reception area, but neither I, nor the room’s confined space, nor even the lack of chairs could drive the women away. They stood there, in the way, making it clear I should keep out of things I knew nothing about. I showed Herr Hübner to his place in the chiropody 266

chair and he turned around completely before sitting down hesitantly, as if he was afraid of getting dirty. I moved the footbath into position and Herr Hübner took his shoes off, or rather kicked them off his feet. They were ancient Crocs with air holes, a faded black and worn out of shape. What came into view was something from the animal kingdom. I’ve blanked out the stench of it. I realized Herr Hübner’s appendages would have ruined any socks in seconds and no closed shoe would have been able to house them. And so, for years on end, in summer and in winter, he’d gone round with his bare feet in these rubber-dinghy-shaped slippers. As Herr Hübner worked himself up to putting his feet in the water, he whimpered softly and turned his fearful puppy eyes to the women, who cajoled him again, reassuring and encouraging him to get through the difficult hour that lay ahead of him. I had the feeling that I wasn’t so much his helper as his enemy. While I slipped on my latex gloves, something else occurred to me. Something was 267